Sit Down Before You Fall Down
by sunsetstargazer
Summary: Owen has been in the hospital for way too long, and his shoulders have long since gone numb in this last surgery. He's ready to drop, and his favourite person is ready to lend a hand.


Sit down, before you fall down

 _A/N This is set early season 13 but doesn't fit any episode in particular. This mainly came about because of the amount of people Owen has fallen asleep on over the seasons and I wanted to do a fic of it. Not sure if I will continue this anymore, but it's been on my computer for ages now so thought I'd post it, I'm open to suggestions for continuing it. As usual I'm getting nothing from doing this other than enjoyment._

Owen had been in surgery for 6 hours already, some kid had taken his dad's motorbike and crashed it off the highway ending up in a ditch and the damage had been extensive. He probably wouldn't be done for at least another hour, judging by how things were going now. As if that wasn't enough he had already pulled a double shift of 48 hours with only minimal sleep in that time when the kid had arrived in the pit. Owen refused to hand off the case to another surgeon because he knew that he was the best surgeon and so the teenagers best chance at survival, so he'd asked a nurse to get him a cup of coffee and downed it ignoring the burn on his throat before scrubbing up and doing his absolute best to save his patient.

By this stage in the surgery he felt relatively confident that he had all of the injuries located and had planned out exactly how he would fix them, his hands were functioning almost purely on muscle memory only occasionally set to a new task by his mind. This auto-pilot like behaviour used to alarm him when he first would slip into it but after so many years as a doctor, he knew that his hands would not make a mistake and he could allow them to continue on suturing delicate organs with relative ease.

Another hour passes with him in this head space before he pulls back up again assessing for any other injuries that required his attention. Eyes moving across the body of the person in front of him satisfied that everything is as well patched up as he can, the rest is up to the body's own healing ability now. He looks up seeing Wilson is across from him looking at him from behind her mask.

"Do you want to close?" he says looking at her eyes and even behind the mask he can tell she's excited at the chance.

"Of course," she says masking her excitement and taking the tools from his hands beginning the process of suturing the skin closed. He watches for a moment assuring himself that she will be fine before he steps back from the table and turns to leave the OR. Once he's in the scrub room he pulls his gloves off one by one followed by his cap and gown throwing them all into the bin, and he scrubs his hands clean still functioning mostly without thinking knowing the procedure by heart now. Finally, he leaves the scrub room going back out into the hallway that he had left far too many hours ago, and a heavy sigh of relief escapes his lips.

He moved back up towards the nurses' station and since no-one was around allowed himself to lean against the wall, his feet and knees were aching fiercely, and his back and shoulders had a slight prickling sensation where what had once been pain from standing in the same position too long had now gone numb, but the headache was now returning with a vengeance. It felt so good to lean and roll his neck around loosening it up, then he dropped it down onto his chest shutting his eyes fairly certain he was going to fall asleep standing up had it not been for two voices next to him that were much too perky for his liking.

"Hey Owen, how did the surgery go I was going to come and check in because I figured you'd be done by now" April's voice came from somewhere near him.

"And I decided to tag along because well a 15-year-old is still a kid right and, so I wanted to check on him before he comes up to paediatrics" Arizona chipped in, neither of them seeming to notice his desire to be unconscious right now.

Seeing no other option, he opened his eyes and lifted his head again trying to mask his exhaustion. "He made it through, as long as he makes it through the next 48 hours or, so I'd say he's going to make it" he said not bothering to go into details, and rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Good, good I'll go up to get him settled in, you should probably go get some sleep now, you look like you're trying to sleep on your feet" Arizona said walking over to where the patient was now emerging from the OR ready to go upstairs, is she a mind reader or something to know exactly what he was just thinking, maybe he's not hiding it as well as he could.

"Well I need to get back down to the pit, but Arizona is right, you should go crash in an on-call room before you go home, you'll fall asleep at the wheel" April said looking pointedly at Owen before scurrying away to the pit.

Now he's been left alone finally he considers going to an on-call room, but he knows he won't sleep there he always jolts awake at the slightest noise a throw-back to his army days. So, he really wants to go home instead otherwise he's not going to get any sleep, with his mind made up he goes into the attendings lounge and starts to change into his street clothes. Most of his outfit goes on fine but when he tries to pull his shoes on without sitting down first he hadn't anticipated how bad his balance was. He lifted his left leg curling it round and started working the shoe onto his foot, but he began to pitch forwards, his tired mind wasn't prepared for this eventuality and he doesn't react fast enough, he would have been a heap on the floor if it hadn't been for someone grabbing him and pushing him back up onto his leg. He finally gets the shoe on and walks over to the couch sitting down to pull on the other shoe, looking up he sees that it was Amelia that had stopped him from falling and she is now giving him an appraising look that he instantly recognises as her doctor expression.

"Don't worry I'm just tired" he says trying to reassure her.

"I gathered that but if you're tired enough to fall over putting your shoes on then you're too tired to be driving home" she says with her hands on her hips.

"I just want to go home and get some sleep, I can't here. I'm a light sleeper and it's too noisy, I'll just go straight home" he says and stands up slightly but finds himself stumbling slightly on his exhausted legs which are really beginning to ache now. Amelia reaches out again but doesn't actually touch him this time because he's already managed to get his balance back again, he straightens up and starts towards the door.

"Well me and Meredith are off now, at least come back with us and you can sleep at Meredith's house then you won't have to drive yourself" Amelia says, and he looks over at her.

"I don't want to crash in on Meredith like that, she's got the kids and it'll mess up their routine" he said trying to think of a reason why that plan couldn't possibly work.

"Trust me those kids are used to people going in and out, they know you as well, besides you can just go straight to bed anyway they don't even have to know you're there" Amelia insists, and he can't really see a way around it, so he steps back from the door to turn and look at her.

"Ok, that would be good thank you" he says sincerely, and he can see the relief in her eyes that he has agreed to it.

"Good, Meredith was just on her way up, so we can go in a minute" she says smiling and going over to her locker to get her coat and bag. He walks over and sits back down on the couch to wait. Now that he's not focussed on getting somewhere he finds that his head is dipping down slowly, and he has to keep dragging it back up every so often, his eyes are threatening to fall shut as well. The last thing he expected was the chuckle that came from Amelia, he looked up at her from behind hooded eyelids and sees that she is watching him with a grin spread wide across her face.

"You look like a little kid that's stayed up too late and can't stay awake long enough to make it to the car home" Amelia said chuckling and he returns the smile slightly because he knows he would be laughing if it wasn't him that is so tired. At that moment Meredith walks into the room already in her own clothes.

"Hey sorry Amelia we can go now" Meredith says rushing for her locker to get her bag.

"Don't worry, and Owen is going to come with us if that's alright because I found him falling over trying to put his shoes on and I'd rather he didn't crash into a tree because he's too tired" Amelia said looking at him affectionately, and Meredith laughs.

"Yeah sure he can come, though if he falls asleep in the car you're going to have to work out how to get him too bed because I already have 3 kids to deal with" Meredith says, and Owen is sure he's supposed to be offended at the comparison but he's almost asleep again with his head resting on his hands.

"Fair enough I'll just drag him by his ankles" Amelia jokes and Owen is awake enough to glare at her, before closing his eyes again. "Well come on if you're coming you have to walk, I am not actually dragging you" Amelia says to him. Owen hears her but doesn't really register the meaning of the words until he feels his head being pushed off the hand that had been supporting it, he slowly drags himself upright and is surprised to see that Amelia has already shut his locker and picked up his bag as well as her own.

"How long have you been on?" Amelia asked seeing the struggle he was having just to stand.

"About 60 hours I guess and before you ask about 4 of those were spent sleeping in naps where I could" he replied, and she frowned at the answer, but turned to go nonetheless. As they were walking he noticed that both Amelia and Meredith were watching him, sure he had stumbled a few times, but he was still going. He kept behind the two of them following them with his head down not unlike a dog, a very exhausted one at that focussing on one step at a time just keeping them in view trusting that they would lead him to where he needed to go. When they reached the exit, he followed them out into the cool evening air and they went over to Meredith's car taking the front seats not that he's going to argue, he pulls the door of the back-passenger side open and slides onto the seat just relaxing into the cool leather feeling himself already slipping off and he wonders why they haven't driven away yet.

"Owen?" Meredith's amused voice slips through the fog his mind is currently floating in.

"Hmmm" he responds without bothering to open his eyes.

"Have you forgotten something by any chance?" she says, and he considers it carefully, he's got his bag and his wallet and phone are in his bag, so he should be good to go.

"Hhmmm" he makes a noise implying a negative response.

"Well we can't go anywhere with the door open" Meredith says obviously close to laughing at his exhausted state, he forces his eyes open briefly so that he can get hold of the door and pull it shut. With that done he settles back resting his head against the glass of the window ready to doze until they got back but though the car has now started they still aren't moving.

"Owen?" this time it's Amelia's voice equally amused but definitely still some concern there.

"Wha' now?" he says exhaustion slurring his words together.

"You know what this'll probably be simpler" she says, and he opens his eyes in curiosity watching as she undoes her seatbelt and turns around kneeling on the seat, he still hasn't realised what the problem is. She reaches up past his shoulder and grabs the seatbelt from behind his side, she pulls it across him and he feels a blush creeping over his cheeks when he realises that he was so tired he forgot to do his seatbelt, she secures it and let's go allowing it to pull in tight around him before she sits down again putting her own on with ease.

"Sorry, forgot" he mumbles turning into the window again using the cool glass to help reduce the blush, but the two of them are already chatting away in the front seat, the constant noise soothes him, and he completely gives in after only a few minutes.

When they pull into the driveway Amelia turns around and sees Owen asleep against the door of the car, the seatbelt holding him upright in the seat. "He's not going to wake up easily is he" Amelia said though it was more an observation than a question.

"No, he isn't, I can go get Alex from inside, he's watching the kids today. Between us we can probably at least get him on the couch" Meredith says opening the door and going inside. Amelia turns around to look at him and feels a rush off affection towards him, he's normally so hostile and closed off but now that he's asleep he just looks so innocent and relaxed.

Amelia was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the window and saw Alex and Meredith waiting outside the car, she opened the door and got out quietly.

"So how you want to do this, Mer said he's too out of it to make it into the house" Alex said glancing into the backseat.

"He was tired enough that I had to put his seatbelt on so, I'll try and wake him up first, then we'll go from there" Amelia suggested. She opened the door and had to reach out a hand to push him back into the car as he nearly toppled out of the car with the support of the door gone, but even this only elicited a low grumble and a slight shift in position before his breathing evened out again.

"Owen, come on wake up, you can't stay out here all night" she tried gentle coaxing and shaking him, but it was like he had been given 10 of Haldol, he just wouldn't wake up. Turning back to the other two he saw that they were now holding back laughter at her predicament, still holding him up slightly to stop him falling. "Well that's not going to work, Alex if I undo his seatbelt you're going to have to come in and take his other side and we can carry him" she said.

"Never thought I was going to be carrying a guy to bed" Alex smirked but did as he was told. When Amelia released the seatbelt Owen's torso fell forwards onto her and Alex stepped in dragging him back up again, this seemed to be enough to finally get him slightly conscious as he moaned and lifted his head up.

Owen had been quite happy sleeping and didn't understand why these people were so insistent on him waking up, he was aware that they were calling him and that they shook him, but he ignored it in favour of continuing to sleep, but then suddenly he was falling forwards and the slight adrenaline rush of falling forwards was enough to clear his head and let him open his eyes for a minute. He realised that they were trying to get him in from the car and that he had already been lifted over two peoples' shoulders, he tried to help and managed to get his feet under him, but his legs were weak and shaking by this point and he couldn't take much of his weight. He could sense that the person under his right arm was Amelia and, so he tried to shove more of his weight the other way not wanting to hurt her, he realised who was on the other side when he heard Alex's voice going on about how he needs to lay off the doughnuts. He just makes another non-committal noise and continues his shuffling footsteps that aren't doing much at all to help.

By the time they reach the front door he is doing a bit better and manages to get his feet under him fully and when they stop while Meredith opens the door he stands up lifting his weight of the two of them. He hears Alex sounding relieved and the two at his sides step slightly away from him allowing him to have his arms back.

"Thanks, sorry, tired" he mumbles breathily trying to convey his message and they seem to understand Alex just waving a hand at him and rolling his shoulder where he'd been carrying him. Amelia appeared again and told him to go lie down so he went over to the couch and slumped onto it, he could tell from the look on her face that wasn't quite what she'd had in mind but he's already slipping away again, and he feels a blanket get thrown over him just before he goes completely back to dreamland.

The next thing he's aware of is sunlight against his eyelids, he feels comfortable and warm laying on his side on something soft, wondering what has woken him he feels something poke him in the chest. He forces his eyes open into the eyes of Bailey, he's still laying on the sofa in Meredith's house, and Bailey is stood in front of him looking at him expectantly. He groans and rolls up so that he is sitting up feeling a slight head-rush as his blood pressure adjusts to being upright, he looks around the room seeing no-one else is in there with him.

"Hey Bailey, what are you doing here?" he says voice still heavy with sleep, he rubs the sleep from his eyes looking around.

"I live here" Bailey states the obvious sarcasm clear in his voice.

"I know that, I meant where's everyone else?" he asked again, but his question was answered when Amelia came in from the bedrooms.

"There you are, I told you to leave Owen alone, sorry we were just leaving you to sleep" Amelia said walking over and shooing Bailey out of the room.

"It's ok, how long was I asleep?" he said.

"Almost 15 hours now, you were asleep in the car and it's 10am now" Amelia said watching Owen turn to her in shock.

"I haven't slept that long since before I joined the army" he admitted. He went to stand up, but he hadn't taken into account how long he'd been laying down and so when he tried to jump to his feet his vision went to nothing and he sat back down heavily putting his head in his hands.

"Yeah, you're probably going to want to eat something or that is going to keep happening" Amelia suggested obviously having seen him get dizzy.

"You're probably right" Owen admitted rubbing a hand through his hair. Amelia went over to the kitchen and put some bread in the toaster and opened the fridge pouring out a glass of orange juice which she brought over to Owen.

"Small sips, I don't want to see it again" Amelia threatened jokily, but Owen still took the warning seriously and was careful to only take small sips that still made his stomach churn slightly but showed no signs of coming back up at least.

"Better?" Amelia asked, and Owen nodded. "Good I'll do breakfast and we'll see how long it takes the others to come and investigate" Amelia says with a laugh and walks back to the kitchen. Owen flopped back against the sofa and relaxed just enjoying the quiet sounds of the kids in the other room and Amelia cooking in the kitchen.


End file.
